In the Jaws of Diego
by Karts of Sugar Rush
Summary: What if in the first movie, Manny and Sid didn't take Roshan back from Diego when he snatched him. Diego, tasked with getting the human baby to the pack at Half Peak, must carry the infant hundreds of miles. How will the saber handle this? By carrying the baby with his teeth.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age or anything in the franchise.

In the Jaws of Diego

Diego prowled, sniffing the ground for any traces of the human female that had jumped over the waterfall with his target, the human baby. After meeting up with Soto and the pack, Diego had planned to search the immediate area near the waterfall in case the humans got out of the river quickly. If he didn't find them here, then he would move downstream and check there. Suddenly, he picked up a strange scent: a mammoth and a sloth.

"A mammoth? A sloth? What would they be doing here? And why aren't they with others of their own kind?" The saber asked himself. He was about to continue his search for the baby when a realization dawned on him. The mammoth and the sloth were going towards the river. The river. The humans. No, if they find the humans. Quickening his pace, Diego rushed towards the river bed. When he got there, he sighed a breath of relief. There wasn't a mammoth or a sloth in sight. At least he thought that until he heard a voice.

"You'll take care of him? You can't even take care of yourself. I have to see this." A voice said. Turning to the source of the voice, Diego saw them. A large, brown mammoth and a green sloth were approaching the cliff side next to the waterfall. Looking closer, the saber noticed that the sloth was holding a brown bundle. The same brown bundle that held the baby. So they did find the humans. Then he watched as the sloth attempted to climb the cliff while carrying the baby. The sloth was trying to get the baby back up the cliff to his herd. Judging by the sloth's climbing ability; he wasn't very good at it and wouldn't make it up. Perfect, when he dropped the baby then he could get it.

Moving around the mammoth, Diego got into a crouch position where he could strike when needed. Somehow, the sloth managed to climb halfway up the cliff but that's when it got complicated. The bundle that was containing the baby was beginning to tear open. Get ready, Diego. Suddenly, the bundle broke and the baby slipped out. Luckily, the sloth caught him with his foot. Just a little closer.

The sloth called out, "Manny!" Next, the baby slipped off the sloth's foot and fell again. Reacting right then, the saber leapt up and snagged the baby's shirt with his teeth, intercepting the mammoth Manny's catch. What was laughter of fun from the human infant turned into a shriek of surprise as Diego landed on a nearby rock face.

Whirling around, Diego's mind instantly told him to go and take the infant in the direction of the pack but one thing stood in his way: Manny the mammoth. Perhaps he would let the saber take the baby and go on his way if he played nicely.

So Diego set the baby down in front of him and greeted the mammoth. "Hi there, sorry but the pink thing is mine."

Descending the cliff awkwardly, the sloth hit the ground with his head. "Really," He asked as he recovered. "Because we found him in the river with another human. She gave him to us and disappeared."

"There's no 'we', Sid." Manny interrupted.

The human female was gone. Good, that was one less problem on his paws. "Yes really, I was sent to find him and bring him back to the herd." He lied.

"What a coincidence! We were going to take him back to his herd too." Sid commented.

"No 'we' weren't." Manny said.

"Hey, since we have the same idea, why don't we work together?"

Diego shook his head. "No thanks, you would slow me down. I have to get him back as fast as I can." He pulled the baby close to him with one of his paws. "Besides, I work solo."

Manny decided to interrupt again. "Wait, you're working solo and yet you're loyal to the humans? Kind of ironic."

"Yeah, yeah I know the irony of it. Look, we have to go alright." Diego retorted, waving a paw like it didn't matter.

Sid raised a paw. "Are you sure you don't want help? While you track the humans, I could take care of the baby." He offered.

"He doesn't want you to help him Sid." Manny said blatantly. "It was nice meeting you…"

"Diego."

"Diego, right. I'm not going in the direction you are so I'll leave you to deal with the humans. Have a nice life." Manny waved his trunk as he left.

Diego thanked him. "Thanks, I will." Then he turned his attention to Sid.

The sloth was still insistent on helping. "Well, Manny may turn down this opportunity but I'm still for it. What do you say?" A glare sent his way was so bad that it could have set his tail on fire. "On second thought, I don't want my mammoth buddy to be alone and you look like you'll be just fine without me. Take good care of the little squirt okay? Bye!" He quickly ran off to join Manny.

Now the saber was alone with his target. "Finally, they left." He looked down at the little human. "Come on you little troublemaker. I have to get you to Soto." Clamping his teeth onto the collar of the baby's shirt, Diego lifted up the baby and got off the rock. He then started on his way back the way he came, the way that would lead him to the pack.

Minutes later, Diego and the baby reached the top of the hill, where the humans' camp was. Peering over the last ledge, Diego saw that the camp was deserted. The humans must have left to chase after the pack. Climbing up over the ledge, Diego padded into the empty campsite, looking at the remains the humans left behind.

The baby, not used to the method of travel he was currently experiencing, began to whine. Having a feeling that he would hear a lot of whining if he didn't put him down, the saber reluctantly set the infant down in the bed he had found him in this morning. Back in the comfort of his little bed, the baby started to snuggle in. Just a few minutes of peace and quiet then they would get a move on again. At least now Diego could think about what he was going to do. Soto said to meet at Half Peak and that was more than one hundred miles away. It would take days to travel at the rate he was going. Factoring in that he had baggage to carry now, he knew it was going to be a rough trip. Hopefully, he wouldn't have anymore delays like Manny and Sid had been. Minutes passed and Diego decided it was time to get moving, and if the kid cried and whined, he would choose to endure it. When he checked on the kid, the kid was super quiet with the exception of his breathing. Gently, the saber picked up the baby as he did before and smoothly continued his journey.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age or anything in the franchise.

So Diego's journey to Half Peak had begun. He would walk more than one hundred miles, carrying a human baby with his mouth. As he traveled north, the baby slept quietly, not knowing that the saber was moving him. Diego's reprieve for the silence ended after a couple hours when the baby woke up and started wailing. Even though the sound hurt his sensitive saber ears, Diego willed through it, doing his best to ignore the high pitched crying. This probably went on for another hour before they arrived at a rocky landscape and not able to take anymore of it, Diego stopped near a large boulder.

Setting the baby down on the boulder, Diego looked at him. "For crying out loud, would you stop?" The saber snarled as the infant cried. "What is it? What will it take for you to stop doing that?" Suddenly remembering his days of surveillance on the humans since the killing of half of the pack and the growing of cubs in the pack, he knew what he had to do. Sniffing the child's lower regions, he made sure they didn't smell. They didn't so it wasn't that. The kid had woken from a nap earlier so it wasn't the need to sleep. Maybe the kid just needed some cheering up from not being with his kind anymore. He nudged the baby. "Hey, want to play a little game?" The baby stopped crying after he was nudged and looked at the saber, not knowing what to expect. Then Diego covered his eyes with his paws. "Where's the baby?" Then Diego pulled his paws away and opened his eyes. "There he is!" The child stared at him blankly. Perhaps one more try. He covered his eyes again. "Where's the baby?" He repeated the same motion as before. "There he is!" The baby was still not getting it and started to wail again. Other than relieving himself and sleeping, there was one other guess.

"You're hungry, aren't you?" Diego asked the baby even though he knew the child couldn't respond. As the human continued to cry, the saber looked around for a source of food. Only one thing around the area seemed edible; the melon. Of course, it was too big for the kid to eat so he would have to cut it up with his claws. "Hey kid, look! Food!" He told the child, who stopped crying and saw the fruit. Just as Diego was about to get the melon, a dodo suddenly poked its head out of the bush next to the melon and snatched it up, running off with the fruit. "Ah great." That was the only thing the kid could eat around here. What now? Looking in the direction that the dodo ran off to and then to the baby, an idea started to form in Diego's head. No way, that was too risky. If anything happened to the kid, he would have to pay for it. But it was considerably safer than the other option.

With a decision finalized in his mind, he picked up the baby and took him over to the bush where he concealed the baby inside it. "Don't move from here. If you get into trouble then so do I." The saber warned the human. Taking chase, he ran off after the dodo.

Not too far away from where he left the baby, Diego found the dodo and the melon. Only one problem stood in his way though; there were dozens of dodos and there were only three melons gathered in the middle of the clearing. "Hey dodos!" He growled to catch their attention. "I need that melon back!"

"What!" A dodo cried. "You can't take our melons. We need them to survive the Ice Age!" The dodo reasoned, perching on top of a melon.

Diego quirked an eyebrow. "The lot of you is going to survive the Ice Age by sharing three melons?" He had heard about these messed up birds but he had no idea that they were this stupid.

The dodos nodded. "Yep." One answered.

"Well then, you're going to need to find another melon because I need to take one of those."

"No way, we claim these melons for dodo kind. Go find a different one." Another warned.

"Well, I'm a predator and what I say goes. I'm taking one of those melons."

"He's going to attack! Dodos, get him!" A dodo yelled. Dodos closed in to attack him. In order to protect the melons, a dodo grabbed one and tossed it to a different dodo, who tossed it to another one, who tossed it over the edge of the nearby cliff.

The dodo that just tossed the melon over the cliff screamed. "The melon!" He jumped over the edge to go after the melon as well as others did.

Taking the distraction of the lost melon, Diego pounced and went after one of the two remaining melons. However, the remaining dodos were quick to knock it away from him and ended up sending it over to the tar pit. Numerous dodos went after it and fell into the pit along with the melon.

"Ouch, I don't want to be one of those guys." A dodo that witnessed the event said to his friend.

With the last melon still available, the orange saber ran for it. "This one's mine!" Bearing no opposable claws, he could only roll it. A clear shot to the path that led back to the baby was in sight. He rolled it forward and saw dodos coming in to attack him and take back the melon. Determined to keep this melon, he drew out his claws and slashed at the dodos. His attacks injured the dodos and as he slashed at some dodos, he kicked others away. This cycle continued until he reached the path and there were no more dodos left standing to face him. "Hah! Take that, idiots! Predator, one, prey, none!" Diego boasted before he rolled the melon away from the site. Recovering dodos got back to their feet only to be dazed and confused enough to fall off the cliff.

A couple minutes later, he returned to the area with the bush. The first thing he did was go over to the bush to check if the baby was still there and he was, much to the saber's relief. After he got the kid out, he sat the child next to him as he cut up the melon to eat. "You know, if we're going to be stuck with each other for a while. I need something to call you. 'Human' just isn't working for me." He said to the baby as the baby eat his melon. Looking at the little human, Diego noticed how pink his cheeks were from the melon juice. With those melon juice covered cheeks, he looked so pink. "That works, for the rest of this trip, you'll be called 'Pinky'. No arguments on this." The infant now named 'Pinky' just smiled at him as he eat the melon.

Once Pinky had finished his meal, Diego went and hunted for some meat to eat for his dinner. By the time he had gotten finished eating, night fell. Camp would have to be made here tonight. Now he was moving some medium-sized boulders around in the shape of a circle. When he was done, he put Pinky in the middle of it. "There we go. Now if you decide to wake up and crawl away in the middle of the night, you can't go anywhere. Even if you could walk now, you still couldn't climb over these." He taunted as Pinky settled down to sleep for the night. Lying down on the ground near the rock circle, he waited and listened for a while before he decided to get some sleep. Just as he was going to go to sleep, he sensed something off about the area. For most of the afternoon and evening, it was just him and Pinky, no dodos had come back to get the melon. For some reason, now there was a problem.

Jumping to his feet, Diego followed his intuition and tackled the intruder. Much to his shock, it was Zeke.

"Zeke! What are you doing here? I could have killed you." Diego snarled at the lower-ranked saber. As he got off Zeke, he noticed that Oscar and Lenny were there as well.

"We came because Soto's getting impatient. He told you to bring the baby or don't come back." Zeke explained. "Judging by the lack of human baby with you, you didn't find it."

Diego growled. "I got the baby. Look for yourself." He led the other sabers over to his camp site.

Lenny nodded in approval. "Good, let's get it back to Soto."

"I'm getting him back to Soto myself." Diego said. "I'm proving my worth as second-in-command and I won't have any of you budging in on it." He countered.

"What do you expect us to do then? We came to tell you Soto's message." Oscar said.

"Then tell him that I'm coming and I'm bringing the kid with me. Tell him I'm luring the baby into false safety so he isn't wailing his head off when I get him to Half Peak. That will make this even better." The sabers didn't move. "Go!" With the final word and order said, the sabers hurried off to follow their superior's orders.

Hopefully he wouldn't be interrupted again in the middle of the night. Placing himself near the rock circle, Diego fell into slumber.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age or anything in the franchise.

The next morning, Diego woke up and stretched his limbs. Okay, another day of travel. Then he heard the babbling of Pinky. He must have woken up as well. "Alright, kid, we've got a full day ahead of us. We won't be stopping until sundown so if you have any complaints about the trip, deal with it. I don't want to hear you crying or anything like that at all today." The saber told his traveling companion. Pinky looked at him blankly; of course he wouldn't understand what he was being told. Knowing he wouldn't get the point across, Diego merely picked up Pinky and began today's leg of the journey to Half Peak.

Soon they came to a field of mud craters. Those who enjoyed mud baths usually stepped into one. Diego wasn't one of those who enjoyed mud baths. Frankly, the mud craters smelled rank to him. For once, he was glad that his mouth was carrying Pinky because the baby's scent filled his nose instead of the craters. Pinky apparently was curious about the mud craters because as they passed them, he cooed and tried to reach out to them. "Sorry, squirt but we're not taking a dip into those things." Diego said around his mouth full of shirt. To make Pinky forget about the craters, Diego swung his head side to side which in turn made Pinky's body swing back and forth. As they passed through, Diego heard a voice he didn't think he would hear again.

"Hey Diego!"

Then Sid appeared, the lower half of his body covered in mud.

Diego stopped and put Pinky down. "Sid? What are you doing here?"

Sid shrugged. "Turns out Manny only went the way he did because he didn't want to come across any other humans. Manny was still sleeping when I woke up this morning so I thought I would take a dip in the mud and try to hit it off with some of the sloth girls here before we moved on."

"You're trying to mate?" Diego asked, pulling out a claw to pin down Pinky's shirt before the baby attempted to crawl over to the mud.

"Yeah," Sid answered. "Not much luck though. Those girls just don't see a potential mate like me."

"Yeah, that's why you're not having any luck."

Sid looked at him with a hint of sarcasm. "Try to insult me if you will but it's not working. So what are you and the human doing here?" He asked to change the subject.

"The humans' camp was empty when I took him back and their tracks led north so we're heading north as well. We're just passing through here."

"You're going north? What another coincidence! Manny and I are going north too. Guess Manny's not too big on migrating with the crowd."

"Seems that way to me." The saber agreed with the sloth. Noticing Pinky's struggle to try to get to the craters, Diego inwardly decided that they had to keep moving. "Anyway, it was nice seeing you again Sid but if the kid and I don't keep going then we won't find the humans."

Sid noticed his anxiousness to move along. "Oh okay, I see. I'm sorry I stopped you there, my bad pal." Sid apologized as he started to move out of Diego's way. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll catch up to the humans before you know it. I'll tell Manny you said 'hi'." Finally the sloth disappeared.

Then Diego turned his attention to Pinky. "We don't have time to play in the mud, squirt. We have a lot of ground to cover." He said sternly as he pulled Pinky back to him from the infant's attempts to crawl away. Pinky whined in protest. "Besides I'm sure Soto and the others wouldn't appreciate you being all dirty when we get there." The baby once again whined in protest as he was hoisted off the ground.

They passed the rest of the mud craters and started to enter a zone covered in snow. Whatever interest Pinky had in the mud craters was now replaced with fascination of the snow. Snow fell on Diego's nose and to keep from sneezing, every once in a while, the saber would shake his head to get the snow off. While the walk extended, they passed a geyser that went off just as Diego timed it in his head. One time they had to stop for a few minutes to let a small glacier pass by. Next, they came to an area that wasn't covered in snow but in ice. He had debated on whether to go around or not but he thought it might be quicker to go straight across. For safety measures with Pinky, Diego put Pinky down and then angled his head so he could grab Pinky around his middle. Pinky giggled as Diego encased his jaws around Pinky's stomach and back and lifted him up. Now Pinky was in and horizontally aligned with Diego's mouth. This way if Diego were to stumble on the ice or fall through into water, he wouldn't lose grip on Pinky. It was hard to cross the ice but he did it and with a prey trapped in his teeth no less. Coming up to a fork in the path, they noticed a saber-toothed squirrel trying to bury his acorn. The squirrel apparently knew that Diego was a saber because he gestured that he had seen a pack of sabers and pointed in the direction that they had gone. While the squirrel was helpful, Diego was annoyed with him so with a flick of his paw, the squirrel was sent flying down the hill he and Pinky had just come up.

When a blizzard hit them, Diego found a nearby cave to take shelter in. To keep the baby alive and warm, Diego curled his body around him as they slept through the blizzard and the night.

Once the sun was shining the following day, Diego returned to transporting Pinky by his collar. Pinky seemed to be in a happy mood because he was giggling and cooing for the first part of the day even though he was dangling from the teeth of a predator. During the second part of the day, Pinky was behaving and remained like the quiet little target Diego had intended for him to be. The day seemed to be going quite well until something seemed to ruin the day. Not too far up ahead, Diego could see the human tribe. It appeared Pinky noticed them too because he tried to call out and reach for them. Before Pinky could let out one little peep, Diego covered his mouth with a paw and quickly backtracked half a mile. Great, how was he supposed to get the baby to the pack if the humans were just ahead of him? His answer came to him as he spotted a large cave. Pinky knew something was wrong if he wasn't being reunited with his family. The infant squeaked in confusion only to be scared by Diego's snarl signaling him to be quiet. He let out a whimper as Diego took him into the huge, dark cave and not to his tribe.


End file.
